11/7 Tass 44
MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) —— The settlement of the security problems “should turn in a process of rapprochement between Russia and the United States,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the eve of his official visit in the United States in an interview, which the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily published on Monday.
“The relations between Russia and the US in the epoch of confrontation and in the epoch of d·tente were always based on our common idea that a strategic military and political stability depends from our two countries,” Lavrov noted. “Military and political problems, global strategic stability and a strategic parity certainly still depends from Russia and the US,” the Russian foreign minister noted.
“We are convinced that we should not only solve this problem, but also to do so that it would cease to be the only item on the agenda and would cease to be a disuniting factor for us, but, otherwise, would turn in a process of rapprochement,” the Russian foreign minister said.
“The NATO military infrastructure on the territory of new members is not just being created despite political pledges to the contrary, but it is getting closer to our borders,” Sergei Lavrov noted. “The missile defence, which we would like to make a joint project and to negotiate all its components so that no one would be feeling under threat, is still developing in the unilateral way, which the US mapped out.” “They offer us only to assist with our resources and to realize a US design,” the minister said. “We are far from being confident that this design is optimal,” Lavrov remarked.
Sergei Lavrov noted that during his US visit he will discuss the foresaid proposals with the US top officials, but “the negotiations on some texts should not be expected from me and Hillary Clinton.” “This problem requires a detailed military and technical expertise,” Lavrov stated. “These negotiations are being carried out within the mechanism, which was created under the Russian-US Presidential Commission to this end,” he said. “But I will certainly discuss the political importance of the missile defence situation and the importance of a positive or negative outcome during my visit to Washington,” he underlined.